Empty
by Shin-Yue
Summary: Link is desperate to find out why he holds the triforce of courage. And the people that are holding him together begin let their mask slip. He must travel to mirror world to save a friend the but will he be in time???


I don't own The Legend of Zelda.  
  
I changed one event that happened in Occ.  
  
Empty  
  
Magic Mirror on the Wall  
  
  
  
In the land of Hyrule there is a legend.  
  
A legend about a monster, which would rise and try to become a god king.  
  
A legend about a miracle which would happen:  
  
The three golden goddess would give the world a chosen one.  
  
This chosen one would restore peace to the land, and balance to the Triforce.  
  
"Link?" The blonde princess tried to get the boy's attention yet again.  
  
"Wah-" Link snapped out of his dream world and smiled at the princess in front of him. "Sorry, Miss. I didn't mean to go off in my own world like that." He started to organize his weapons again.  
  
She smiled at her friend and wrinkled her nose. "Stop calling me miss like that. It makes me feel old."  
  
She sat on his bed, careful not to sit on his weapons.  
  
He looked back at her and pouted, managing to look like a two year old. "But it is impolite to not address royalty by some term of respect."  
  
The princess grabbed a weapon and tossed it at her friend's head. Of course she missed by a mile, but that was besides the point. "So, what are you going to do with yourself now that your destiny is complete?" She hoped that he agree to stay with her in the castle as her head guard once it was rebuilt.  
  
Link stopped what he was doing and sat down next to Zelda, ending up sitting on half of his weapons. "I'm not sure yet but definitely have this weekend open." Zelda looked at Link, her face blank and clueless. The Hero of Time frowned. "Don't tell me you've forgotten."  
  
She looked even more clueless.  
  
"Remember at the lake you said you like fishing, and I said I liked fishing, and we made a promise that we go camping the whole weekend after of this was over? Come on, you can't have forgotten. I was really looking forward to it."  
  
Zelda suddenly looked as if a ton of bricks had hit her. And she got up from his bed and walked to the window.  
  
Link got up and followed his friend. "Hey, Zely, you ok?" He wrapped one of his strong, muscular arms around her. "Look. If you don't want to come, you don't have to. But I think it will be fun. I'll even take it easy on you."  
  
The princess fell back into his hold, feeling his heartbeat against her ear. "Links we need to talk about something."  
  
The blond pulled away from her. His face had gone serious. "What's wrong?"  
  
She stood there a moment, trying to force the words to come out of her mouth. This was so hard for her to say...she still was having trouble believing it herself, and now she tell one of her closest friends.  
  
There was a soft, polite knock at the door, followed by a strong stern voice. "Hero, you're needed downstairs. Your horse is misbehaving in the stables yet again."  
  
Link looked to the door. And back at Zelda.  
  
She pasted a fake smile on. "Go. I can wait."  
  
Link nodded and walked out the door. Impa came in once he was gone.  
  
Zelda hugged her bodyguard and nanny, and nearly started to cry. The woman hugged the smaller teenager tightly. "You were thinking of Sheik again." she said simply.  
  
Zelda nodded "I have to be strong for this. I can't break down when I tell Link."  
  
-  
  
It was dark outside; no light save that of the full moon that hung low over the village. The crickets were chirping loudly. No one was out but the two blondes, giving the small village an eerie feel. Zelda had decided that they should go to Impa's house so they could talk in privet.  
  
Once in the old house, Zelda started to make some tea. She motioned for Link to sit down.  
  
One they were both seated, Zelda smiled warmly. "Link, I have something very important to tell you." Link watched as she started to play with her pale smooth fingers. She was dressed more casually then usual; a simple dress and without the typical headdress that she wore. "I think it's time I tell you what happened in the seven years you lost to sleep."  
  
"The night Impa and myself had run from the castle. We were caught by bandits. I was killed. " Link raised his eyebrows and open to his mouth to question. But she held a single hand up to stop him for talking.  
  
"This is hard as it is. Please, ask when I'm finished." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, as if she were describing a dream.  
  
"Impa was left badly injured, and would have died if her nephew Sheik hadn't saved her." Link eyes widened. "They brought my body to the realm of the Sheikah, and they brought my soul to the land of the dead. But I was to only live in that realm; this brought up a new problem. When you awoke you would need help to get the temples of the Sages. Sheik spent the seven years training to help you, but there were some things that only I could help you with, so Sheik found a way for me leave the realm: I would enter his body to help you when it was needed.  
  
" We used an old cursed mirror. If you looked into it then you would trade bodies with the one that had the symbols of the curse carved in their skin. Somehow, Gannon found out about the mirror and shattered it when I was talking to you in the Temple of Time. After this was all over, Impa went to the realm to see if Sheik was trapped there like I had been, but...he wasn't there."  
  
Zelda opened her eyes and looked at Link sadly. "He's trapped in the mirror, slowly dying. "  
  
Link stared at her in shock for a long time. He bowed his head and looked away from her. "I need to think about this." He said quietly. He got to his feet and left the small house.  
  
He walked into the stables and gently woke Epona; the horse bobbed her head in happiness. Link petted the large animal and opened her pen, freeing her. He mounted and quietly escaped the village.  
  
The horse brought him to the brick wall by the ranch.  
  
Link smiled a bit then gently started to stroke her. "I swear, sometimes you can read my mind." He climbed off then looked at the horse with a smile. "Go run around and stretch your legs. I've kept you in that stable long enough."  
  
The horse looked at him, her eyes saying 'It's late at night and you want me to run around in circles?' Then ran off.  
  
Link watched the direction of where the horse had run toward for a long time then turned to look at the wall. The wall was probably the one stable thing in his life. When he was a child, and he was banished for the death of the tree that he tried so desperately to save, and his friends treated him as if he was a bug that was lower then dirt. He was treated like an outsider wherever he went, just because of the clothes he wore. He went to sleep as an eleven-year-old boy and woke up to find the world he knew on the brink of destruction, and himself no longer a child but an adult. Then he found out he wasn't even who he thought he was. But the wall was always there in the middle of nowhere. Simply standing.  
  
Link sat on the wall, running the tip of fingers across its surface, feeling the cracks and the bumps with closed eyes. His mind flashed with images of his past. He opened his eyes and whispered to the wall "Everyone forgets that I'm only an eleven year old boy." He raised his fingers to his face. He removed his gauntlet and stared at his hand. There was a small scar on his hand that was fading away.  
  
Link remembered the night he earned that scar well. His 'brothers' had wanted to thank him for freeing them by throwing a huge party that involved a lot of drinking, and since he was the guest of honor, he had to drink twice as much alcohol as every else at the party. Never mind the fact that had never touched the stuff before in his life; they wanted him to, so he complied.  
  
Link remembered Sheik showing up and stopping him from walking off a ledge to his death. He remembered crying on Sheik's shoulder, saying he didn't want any of this, he didn't want to be the Hero of Time. He didn't want to be the chosen one. He just wanted to be a normal person that didn't have the fate of the world on his shoulders.  
  
Sheik simply cradled him in hug and whispered words of comfort in his ear.  
  
Link continued to stare up at the sky. A part of him hoped that heavens didn't exist. A part of him started to wonder why the wall was there in the first place. "Someone probably started to build a house here and changed their mind at the last second."  
  
He closed his eyes and searched within himself for the piece of the Triforce that laid with in him. He opened his eyes to see the soft triangular glow of courage.  
  
Link had always wondered why he was chosen for the Tripiece of courage. He never did any thing courageous, he just did what he thought was the right thing.  
  
He narrowed his eyes and began to get angry. "This is that why I've always been a outsider all my life? Because I believe in the right thing?" He traced the making on the back of his hand, his anger leaving almost at the same instant as he touched the glow. "Or maybe it's because I'm willing to die for the right thing." That was one thing he had noticed. Almost everyone just gave in to Ganon. No one but him, the sages, and Sheik had tried to fight Ganon and bring the balance back to Hyrule.  
  
In the corner of his eye, Link saw his beloved horse coming to get him. He climbed off the wall and mounted his horse. He looked back to he direction of the inn he was staying, in but try as he might, he couldn't bring himself too return there tonight. He knew Zelda would keep his room there until he returned.  
  
Slowly he went through his list of options. "I could go to the forest, but then Saria would want to know what was wrong." He didn't wish to explain what he was feeling now. "I could go to the mountains with Darunia, but they would just want to party."  
  
Link decided that that wasn't safe without someone like Sheik being there to make sure he didn't walk off a cliff. Right now, all he wanted was a place to pass out and sleep, without the worry that someone was standing outside worrying about him.  
  
Then it hit him. The thief's hideout! They would let him crash there. They liked it when he came--they joked for hours amongst themselves about him being a male, and they never asked questions. They would just nod and show him to a spare room, and bring food in the morning.  
  
-  
  
Link opened his eyes to see Nabooru, the leader of the Gerudo Thieves sitting across from where he laid. He rolled over and mumbled "So much for no one bothering me."  
  
The young desert belle smiled. "You came in so late last night you had me..." she paused to searched for the right word. "...concerned that you were in trouble."  
  
Link reluctantly rolled over and looked at her "I'm not in trouble, just confused."  
  
The tanned woman got up and sat next to the younger boy, she smiled sadly and ran her fingers through his hair. "You may find this strange, but growing up, I never wanted to be a thief." Link raised an eyebrow at her. She let out a soft laugh. "Really! I wanted to have a big wedding and a family, but that monster ruined that for me." She narrowed her eyes and turned her head away with a sigh.  
  
She looked back at him pity deep in her eyes. "I'll never forgive him for what he did to me, but for what he did to you he should burn in hell alive." She looked at him, all her pity gone. " I just can't understand why the Goddesses would evil like that exist."  
  
Link smiled, but the smile was empty. " It would be easy for you to have faith in them if there was no evil. Evil is just to test your faith."  
  
She widened her eyes in shock, then changed the subject. "I noticed that you didn't bring your weapons this time."  
  
Link got up out of bed. "Well, I didn't want to repeat what happed last time. It took me hours to find everything."  
  
She pulled him in to a playful hug. "Oh, come on, that was just for fun."  
  
He glared at her. "That was not fun."  
  
She smiled mischievously. "It was fun for me and the other girls."  
  
-  
  
Link took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and forced himself to relax, and he nodded at Saria. She smiled faintly then created a portal to the Light Realm. Without a word, they both entered.  
  
The sages were surrounding Link. He swallowed nervously.  
  
Rauru glared at him. "What do you want, child?" His voice was cold and harsh.  
  
Link did as his fairy always told him to; he bowed to the sages and carefully tried not to meet their eyes. He spoke in a quiet tone. "I humbly ask that you allow me to enter the realm of the mirror."  
  
Rauru looked as if someone had hit him in the stomach with an iron glove. The others showed the same reaction. It took a moment for Rauru to regain his composure. He looked Link in the eye and answered "No."  
  
Link got to his feet and stared at the old man, his voice lost.  
  
Saria bit her lip. "I think we should let him." The taller Sages turned to look at her. "He's going to find Sheik. Without him we'd all still be sealed away."  
  
Nabooru spoke quietly. "I agree."  
  
Rauru turned and glared at her, his eyes full of venom.  
  
"I think...If my brother wishes to save his friend then I say we let him."  
  
Link turned and sent a grateful look at is old friend Darunia.  
  
The old man frowned "Three against four. The more reasonable Sages agree with me." His old, tired voice was smug.  
  
Link shot a desperate look at Zelda. She looked away. Link backed up in shock--he could see it in her eyes. She knew if he brought Sheik back she would be forced back to the land of the dead. She would rather sacrifice his life than her own.  
  
Link turned to Impa. she shifted her eyes to Zelda then back to Link. Link almost growled at her. She would rather send her nephew to his grave than the princess?  
  
Link didn't even have to guess with Ruto. She would never defied the authority of Zelda or Rauru.  
  
Link slowly found his voice. "Fine, then!" he spoke louder then he had before. His voice filled with anger. "I asked nicely." He turned to look at the oldest Sage. "I came, I asked, I was denied, but I swear on the goddesses, I will find a way into that realm."  
  
-  
  
Link stormed out of the Temple of Time, his mind filled with anger. His horse was waiting for him. He petted her gently, despite the anger flowing through him.  
  
Zelda exited the temple, her eyes full of sorrow. " Link, I-"  
  
Link turned to the Princess, his anger slowly leaving him. "He's dying because he tried to help you, and you're just going to let him?"  
  
She grabbed his arm. "you don't understand! I'm needed here, I'm needed alive!"  
  
Link wrenched his arm out of her grip. " You shouldn't grab on to people you barely know." He climbed onto his horse. " I hope you feel justified, Your Highness." He said without a trace of sarcasm.  
  
-  
  
Link threw down his sword.  
  
Nabooru looked up from her papers. She raised an eyebrow ande sent the person she was talking with away with a slight gesture. " Is there some thing I can do for you?"  
  
Link nodded. " I want you to train me like the girls I first fought when I came here."  
  
She nodded. "May I ask why?"  
  
" I'm a member of this tribe, right? So I don't have to explain myself," Link spoke quietly, his eyes not completely meeting hers.  
  
" Whatever you want, child, but I'll warn you; it isn't as easy as it looks." She walked over to him and tugged on his hood, pulling it off. "And while you train to be one of us, you'll dress as one of us and act as one of us."  
  
Tbc..  
  
Review please. the more reviews I get the more I work on it.. 


End file.
